Mr. David Johnston:

I am the group general counsel of Paddy Power plc and joined by my colleague, Ms Catherine Colloms, our director of corporate affairs. We thank the joint committee for the invitation to attend.

Paddy Power is one of the world's best known sports betting and gaming brands. We have our headquarters in Clonskeagh, Dublin and are listed on both the Irish and London Stock Exchange. We employ over 4,100 people globally, with 2,338 employees currently based in Ireland, and contribute €70 million per annum in taxes to the Exchequer. We hold gambling licences in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Italy, the Isle of Man, Australia, British Columbia and Nevada. This affords us what we consider a unique position in an Irish context in our knowledge and understanding of regulatory regimes and gambling regulation worldwide.

Paddy Power welcomes the publication of the general scheme of the gambling control Bill 2013 as a first step to creating a modern, regulated environment for gambling in Ireland. We support the bulk of the provisions of the general scheme, although there are some areas we believe could benefit from further clarity in any future draft legislation. We welcome the proposal to establish the Office for Gambling Control Ireland, OGCI. We believe an empowered and pragmatic regulator is essential for the growth of a modern and safe gambling industry in Ireland. We agree with the principle that flexibility and technology neutrality will be key elements of any successful regulated environment. In that context, we believe the legislation needs to avoid being overly prescriptive or granular and, therefore, unable to adapt to the fast-moving pace of change in the gambling industry and technology generally. Accordingly, rather than enshrining inflexible standards in primary legislation, we suggest the OGCI be provided with sufficient powers to enable it to develop codes of practice and conduct in order to allow it to quickly respond to market developments without the need for ministerial orders or amendments to primary legislation. Consultation with licensees and other stakeholders would be a key part of any such regime. We have seen this approach work well in other jurisdictions and believe it would allow for good regulation and ensure Ireland's regulatory framework remained current and relevant.

Paddy Power has always been committed to acting fairly and operating the most robust and stringent practices in the industry with regard to responsible gambling and age verification. We, therefore, welcome in principle the broad range of measures set out in the general scheme around player protection, including self-exclusion and the establishment of the social fund. We believe, however, that some of the sections regarding these measures may require further consideration and elaboration.

For example, while most operators operate a self-exclusion policy, there is no standardisation of approach across the industry. It is also widely recognised that there are serious challenges in ensuring multi-operator self-exclusion schemes work for both individuals and operators and we are concerned that these are potentially unworkable in a retail environment. This is something that will require further consideration and engagement by the industry with the OGCI to determine how best to implement this measure. We are fully supportive of the social fund referred to in head 77. However, the manner in which it is to be funded may warrant further consideration as the approach can vary in different jurisdictions.

There are three other specific sections we would like to highlight. The first is head 72 which enables the Minister to bring into effect rules governing advertising based on the principles listed in head 72(3). The principles listed in head 72(3) are, however, quite subjective and open to a wide degree of interpretation. We believe this is something that would be better dealt with in a code of practice developed by the OGCI or the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland instead of being included in a ministerial order or primary legislation.

The rules in head 73 on promotions may also need some further consideration. Head 73 contains time-based restrictions on the offer of promotions in respect of both remote and non-remote services. We do not understand the rationale for this and believe the restrictions are unworkable in the context of the media we consume in Ireland and the global nature of the Internet.

Schedule 1 proposes quite a complex regime of 43 possible licence categories which I hope can be reviewed for the purposes of the Bill and perhaps rationalised for ease of administration.

We reiterate that we welcome the publication of the general scheme of the gambling control Bill and believe it will play an important role in establishing a modern, well regulated regime for gambling in Ireland. We look forward to playing a constructive role and providing any assistance we can in the development of that regime. If the committee has questions on the presentation or our submission, we will be happy to take them.